GOP members of North Carolina State Board of Elections resign
The stunning departures, less than six weeks before Election Day in a hotly contested battleground state, come one day after the five-member board said it unanimously agreed to the settlement, which still must be approved by a court. A hearing has been set for October 2 regarding the settlement, which also allows ballots postmarked on Election Day to be received six days later.
In a statement, the board said it appreciated the service of the two resigning members, Ken Raymond and David Black, but that the unanimous agreement “came after counsel to all board members from agency attorneys and litigation counsel before and during last week’s closed session meeting. The agency’s legal staff, who are civil servants, provide thorough legal memos to the board prior to every board meeting and answer any questions board members have about matters that come before the board.”
Raymond said he couldn’t “in good conscious (sic) continue.” Black said the recent decisions by the board made it “untenable” to remain as a member.
CNN has reached out to the North Carolina Republican Party for comment.
Following the settlement, the party called it “a blatant abuse,” saying in a statement that it “guts the absentee witness requirement, extends the acceptance of all absentee ballots almost a week past the statutory deadline and weakens protections against ballot harvesting.”
In a statement, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, called the resignations “political theater at its most destructive.”
“The proposed consent order is a negotiated compromise response to the greatest public health crisis in 100 years, the USPS slowing of mail delivery, and a federal court order mandating a cure process for mail in ballot errors,” Stein said. “I am committed to ensuring that all eligible voters in North Carolina are confident in the knowledge that they can vote easily and safely by mail or in person — and that the candidate who wins the most votes will prevail.”
On Thursday morning, the total number of absentee ballot requests in North Carolina surpassed 1 million.
According to data reported by the Board of Elections, 1,002,874 ballot requests had been received for the November general election, compared to 85,261 ballots by this time in 2016. Democratic requests are outpacing Republican requests by more than two to one.
State election officials began sending out the ballots to voters on Friday, September 4. Since that time, more than 198,000 ballots have been returned to election officials.
This story has been updated to include additional reporting and reaction.
CNN’s Pamela Kirkland contributed to this report.
